Blood is Thicker Than Water
by Daine Yuy
Summary: Remus' thoughts and memories on the dearly departed. Spoilers of OotP. Not slash, sadly.


Hi y'all, Daine here. This is only my second Harry Potter fic (my first was a lovely piece of Remus/Sirius angty poetry that only got reviews because I forced some of my friends to read it). I'm not bitter . . . nope, not me. Anyways, this is Remus' response to Sirius' death at the hands of his cousin.  
  
Disclaimer: I am making no money off of this. None. If I get sued, I'm going to have to pay in anime DVD's and comics. Seriously.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remus Lupin sat in front of the fire, staring into the cooling ashes. To him, the mixture of light and dark looked remarkably like that curtain- the curtain Sirius had fallen through after . . . he saw it in his mind's eye, Sirius, still laughing, falling into the curtain. His murderer- his COUSIN- laughing triumphantly as he fell.  
  
"Padfoot, my boy, you have the most horrid luck when it comes to family." He murmured, wondering, without any real passion, if Lestrange was celebrating. He supposed she was- after all; she had eliminated Sirius Black, her cousin. Always back to that. Blood was supposed to be thicker than water. But it wasn't, not really. Hadn't Bellatrix proven that? Hadn't his own father? He shuddered, remembering the cold pain of silver talismans, and the much more crushing pain of rejection. His father had not taken to the idea of a werewolf son, and had made that clear multiple times. He no longer considered his father family. His brothers had always been enough- but now they were gone.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Come off it!" said the then twenty-year-old Remus. "You can't swear a blood oath with a werewolf!" he glared at his two dark-haired companions, and single tow-headed one, with something approaching menace.  
  
"Ah, but Moony, we've out smarted you!" crowed James, smiling his usual devilish smile. "We'll take the oath as animals! Don't worry, we've planned this out!" Freshly graduated from Hogwarts, they were desperate for one last adventure, before real life intervened. Remus nodded, looking up at the sky. Blood brothers. The idea was exciting.  
  
"All right, Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail. Let's become brothers." He said earnestly, earning smiles and cheers from his companions.  
  
That next full moon, they did it. They were now brothers, sworn to protect their family.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Years later, it erupted into chaos. Voldemort dead; James and Lilly, dead; Harry living with strangers, alone, famous; Peter dead; and Sirius, the traitor. Blood ran thicker than water, according to the Muggles, so why had Sirius done it? Sirius had hated his dark family, ran away, and the blood oath had originally been his idea, to replace what he longed for: a loving, supportive family. He had sworn to protect his brothers, the only people he considered family anymore. Now it was shattered, and it was all because of Sirius.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~ Happiness had ruled for those short few years. There was peace, Harry was fine, Sirius was alive and innocent- Remus' head had been swirling with happiness ever since he had found his friend, his brother. His own mum had died years ago, and Remus was happy with the sporadic reports of sunny weather and hungry hippogriffs. Moving in had been harder, the house was horrid, Sirius was depressed, but they still held on- they were brothers.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Remus still stared, feeling cheated. What was family, after all? He had none- Sirius' own cousin had killed him. His only other blood brother- not that Remus thought of him like that anymore- had been the original traitor, responsible for shattering everything in the first place. Remus shook his head, confused. Blood was supposed to run thicker than water. He knew that. Family always ruled, even if it was an adopted one. Not even aware of what he was doing, he staggered towards the bathroom, despairing. He felt mad- surely he hadn't lost his mind over the eternal question of blood vs. water, family vs. friends.  
  
He got to the ancient tub, and turned on the taps, sticking his hand into the nearly scalding water. Water was thick. But was blood thicker? As if inspired, he moved to the medicine cabinet, and pulled out a long razor. Slashing violently at his throat, he moved a hand into the spray of blood. Marveling at its warmth and feel, he fell to the floor, the gash in his neck bleeding enthusiastically, the water spilling over the edges of the bath, splashing on the tile.  
  
"What do you know, Padfoot; blood is thicker."  
  
And darkness reigned.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ O-kay I need medicine. Ah well. Anyways, it sucks mold that they killed off Sirius, and it sucks even more that his own cousin did it. That was just swirling around. Review please, no flames. Also, sorry if you think the grammar is a little off, it's just my odd writing style. 


End file.
